Overnight storm mild, but mountain passes get lots of snow

The winds that breezed through the region overnight weren't as intense as expected and caused only minor problems for area power utilities.

For those traveling across Snoqualmie or Stevens passes for the Christmas holiday, meteorologists with the National Weather Service in Seattle have one piece of advice: Leave Friday afternoon or early evening instead of waiting for Saturday, when more rain, wind and snow are expected.

Heavy snow pelted both mountain passes this morning, where the amount of snow on the ground is nearly double average snow levels for this time of year, said meteorologist Carl Cerniglia. At the base of Snoqualmie Pass, there are 61 inches of snow on the ground, up from the average 36 inches; meanwhile, Stevens Pass has more than 74 inches on the ground, 30 inches above the average of 44 inches.

"The skiers ought to love it," he said.

Between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m., five inches of snow had fallen on Snoqualmie Pass, with Stevens Pass getting about an inch of snow an hour, Cerniglia said. Heavy snow was expected through the morning before falling off and on the rest of the day.

Winds overnight were about 5 mph less than forecasters expected, Cerniglia said. At Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, there were 20 miles an hour sustained winds with gusts around 30 miles an hour, while at Everett's Payne Field, there were sustained winds of 26 mph with gusts of 32 mph, he said.

"Everybody was panicking a bit because of the last big blow," but the storm turned out to be pretty typical for this time of year, Cerniglia said.

Puget Sound Energy experienced a few minor outages that only needed quick fixes, such as knocking tree branches off power lines, to restore electricity in a handful of spots, said spokeswoman Dorothy Bracken. As of this morning, PSE crews were working to restore power to 75,000 customers, down from a peak of 700,000 customers last week, she said.

Meanwhile, the Snohomish County Public Utility District managed to get power restored to all of their customers by last night, said spokesman Neil Neroutsos. Last week's storm knocked out power to 305,000 customers.

"It's been a long week," Neroutsos said, adding power crews were pleased to complete their work before Christmas.

As of Wednesday night, 5,300 Seattle City Light customers were still without power, down from a peak of 375,000.

The weather today "will be a little blustery" with showers off and on and occasional peeks of sunshine, Cerniglia said. Temperatures are expected to be in the mid 40s.

Friday "will be a pretty nice day, especially for traveling," Cerniglia said.

Typical Northwest winter weather will return Saturday. During the day Sunday, there will be scattered showers before another front moves in Sunday evening.

"On Christmas Eve, the precipitation will start coming in overnight, with rain and breezy winds. Christmas Day will be blustery with showers - a perfect Northwest Christmas Day," he said.